


when the wisp follows

by kinpika



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Commissioned Work, If You Squint - Freeform, M/M, Natsume Yuujinchou AU, Supernatural - Freeform, Youkai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-07-22 23:13:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7457470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kinpika/pseuds/kinpika
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“I did not summon you,” he murmurs, as he sweeps along, to brush over that mark.</i>
  <br/>
  <i>“You called for me in your sleep. You have every night.”</i>
</p><p>Daichi touches the pages, so fragile, so easy to tear, and sings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	when the wisp follows

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Skylark](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skylark/gifts).



> a very delayed posting of this commission from [clover!](https://twitter.com/ookidos)  
> commissioned for something natsume yuujinchou influenced! thank you for commissioning me, once again!

On the second page, Daichi begins to understand. There is a certain sadness, underneath all the words, only tempered down by the gentle signature that sat along the last sentence. Tracing his fingers over the words, Daichi did not begin the usual process. Perhaps, he could pass it off as hesitance, as that second page seemed to be far more comfort still in form, than he could imagine setting free.

He moves on, the third, fourth, fifth. Slowly working his way through those trapped in the pages, meeting a flock of birds, each soaring higher and higher. Their vivid personalities pull him every which way, and even if they promise to visit, Daichi does not hear from them again. Maybe he was expecting too much, to be visited again.

It only cements his feelings about that second page.

At his shoulder, a crow caws, turning its eye towards him, far too knowing. If crows could smile, Daichi was sure this one would have a entire grin. “You are too attached,” he caws, a cackle underneath it all. “And you have not even met the _ayakashi_.”

“I will. Soon enough.”

“So you say.”

And so he does. Says it, for near a year. In that time, he sets free crows, cats, an owl that sings far too loudly, and even a cow. They are the gentle ones, playful ones. Ones who were taken down just as they had climbed to the highest point in their life. Many are thankful, some are offended, and there is one who reacts the worst.

Pressing a cold towel to his nose once more, Daichi ignores how his _inugami_ still laughs. “For a good spirit, you can be rather vindictive.”

“You were going so well… it was funny to see you be taken down a notch.”

With a grunt, Daichi sets down the towel. “Thank you for helping me, regardless of the outcome.”

“Of course I had to help. You might have given me my Book earlier, had I not been there.”

A smile directed as his tea, Daichi folds his feet underneath him, and eyes the book. That one spirit that day had been, not necessarily violent, but ecstatic at being free. The outpouring of power from the _ayakashi_ was too much for him to handle, and it backfired. Whilst the nose wasn’t the biggest part of his worries, the singe on the cover of his Book was.

“Will it hurt the others in there?”

Humming, the crow rolls, picks at its feathers. “Perhaps. We may never know.”

“You are trying to tempt me.”

If crows could snort, maybe this was the equivalent. Daichi just rolls his eyes, and flips through the pages. So many blanks, and whilst Daichi was happy for them, for their free lives, he missed them. Angling the book just so, he could see lingering imprints of their names on the pages. Then again, it may have just been the light, his imagination, the way his fingers held the second page open, just in case he wanted to flick back.

“I cannot summon this one today.”

“Not with how you look. What might they say if you bled all over them?”

Daichi has his turn to snort, and regrets it immensely at the throb in his nose. At least it wasn’t a new spurt of blood, he reasons, but he holds the towel there anyway. The day was wearing on him, just a little more than usual, and he falls asleep with the second page open, glowing in the dark. He can read the name behind his eyelids, as he curls up on the couch, a thin blanket for the summer night.

 _Sugawara_ , it reads, and despite the aching nose, the exhaustion that fills him once his head finds the pillow, it is warm and comforting. Like a hug, telling him everything will be alright. Just you watch, Daichi, he hears his mother say. It will work out in the end.

Words on a piece of paper do not have power until they touch his lips, and Daichi wakes to a looming figure. The crow laughs, raucous and mighty, rolling around as Daichi scrambles to his feet. As the room tilts, he reaches out, trying to make sense of it all. His head hurts far too much, and he mouths the name. Hand falling through the spirit, smoky and cold, Daichi falls forward, landing on the table.

Under his cheek, the page burns hot, like it had caught alight. Flinching, Daichi pulls back, watches as the words rise, all on their own, no need for him. _No need for him_ , he echoes, and despite how his fingers singe as he pulls at the edges, Daichi tears the page out. Folding it, quickly, carefully, he takes a moment to breathe, before he sings. Lips hurt, but he does not let himself stop, no matter what. He was needed for this, _this_ is what he was meant for.

Smoke, that had dissipated under his touch, fell together. A slow and quiet show, one he watched despite the heat. Colour did not arrive, not yet. But the sun, rising behind the figure, gave such an ethereal glow, that Daichi nearly let the song slip. Not once, not ever, had he been so mystified by such a summoning. Sugawara, he thinks, is beautiful. Far too much, that such a person, could not be contained to simple words on a page.

Long fingers, slender wrist, far too much fabric swallowing the rest of the figure up. Lines began to form, giving the smoke shape, _life._ So much life contained into an _ayakashi_ , that had been bound to paper, a life of servitude. And yet, there was still no colour, just a delicate face, that ended with a simple mark under the left eye.

Daichi was aware that a mark under the eye meant that the _ayakashi_ had suffered a hard life. Tears, he recalled, had been shed. Reaching out, his hand does not fall through this time, but touches the cool skin, not at all like the paper of others. This one was whole, and where his fingers touched, Daichi watched the colour spread. “I did not summon you,” he murmurs, as he sweeps along, to brush over that mark.

“You called for me in your sleep. You have every night.”

He can feel the smile tug at his lips, as the presumptuous tone. But, it was not rude, just spoke as if they knew each other, long ago. “How long have I called for you?”

No more words, just a sorry sort of smile, that Daichi feels himself mimic. Long ago, he had believed that it were possible, to have been reborn again. Dealings with _ayakashi_ made him think so too. And his power, the power he wielded just from singing, left something to be desired. Yet his mother never breathed a word, and not a spirit so far recognised him.

“Sugawara.” Saying the name aloud, gave it a depth no amount of ink could. It was the final touch, as colour finally spilled, even down to the tips of his toes. A name held all sorts of power, Daichi knew so well. Here, standing on his little table, in his tiny living room, was living, breathing proof, that a name had encompassed so much, yet not all of it.

Sugawara seemed happy, as he looks at his hands, still holding that morning glow. Then, he says: “Just ‘Suga’ is fine.” Daichi laughs for the first time in a long time, and takes the offered hand, pulling himself up.

Little bolts of lightning run up under his skin, and whether it was an aftershock of a summoning, the _thump thump_ still pounding inside his skull, or just from watching Sugawara light up, Daichi could not decide. Maybe he felt it too, as he did not let go straight away. Let their hands drop, to link fingers.

“I have waited more than a lifetime for you,” he murmurs, and Daichi believes him. There is no lie in his face, and the crow does not howl with laughter. Just sits on a shelf behind Sugawara, watching close.

“I am sorry.”

“Do not be sorry for something you could not control. I am here now.”

“Yet, I am here to set you free.”

A thumb rubs circles onto the back of his hand. Daichi had had many run ins with spirits like this, who recalled a past life. None so intimate, but they had always spoke with a tone that cried for past times. Truly, Daichi wished he had remembered such a time, such a place. He may have been able to stop them being bound in the first place, but he pulls his hand free, lets himself fall to the lounge.

Sugawara follows, and no matter how solid he was under Daichi’s hands, he was as light as air. Even with so much material that floats around him, he lands with a thigh either side of Daichi’s own, leaning so close in, that if he breathed, Daichi might have felt it on his lips.

“I pledge my service to you,” Sugawara whispers, and Daichi places a hand on his shoulder.

“I refuse.” A tired, sad reply. This face, he did not recall. It was the name that stayed with him, all this time. Simply a word on a page that he could never force himself to summon. Had this been the reason why, all along? Was some branch of fate telling him to not go through with it, if he were unable to go all the way?

What had Sugawara been to Daichi, that required hands against cheeks, tears that disappeared in the sunlight? Heart heavy, Daichi rests his hand over where Sugawara’s sat, and turned to press his lips against the skin just there. Still so cold, despite how warm the page had been. Like a different person, even if Daichi knew deep down they were one and the same.

“Even like this, you still remain the same.”

“You speak as if you remember me.”

“And you speak as if you do not, and never will.”

“I am sorry,” he repeats, because it is the only words he can find. The only words that he has in him; such a sad and silly thing.

“You should never apologise to me.”

Sugawara does not kiss him, just leans in, rests their foreheads together. Daichi does not let his mind open, in fear of what he might find in prying. But he can guess at just what he might see, as Sugawara holds his shoulders firm, hands shaking. _Ayakashi_ are to be feared, can lead a person astray. Yet this one only scared Daichi for fear of the unknown, of a past long gone and buried, that only asked for more questions, more answers.

“Will you leave?” Daichi’s tone is soft, as he asks. He has had visitors, other spirits who return to thank him again, to make his normally ordinary life somewhat more attractive. He fears Sugawara may not be the same, and may never return once more.

“Not when I finally have you in my arms once more.”

There is no need to press it further, as Daichi wraps his arms around Sugawara. Finally, the crow speaks up, something that should have been insulting, but was simply a sorry call. Time was fleeting, and Daichi had never intended to hold on. Perhaps, the _inugami_ recognised Sugawara. Maybe this was a ploy, a dream. Daichi could not decide on the crow’s intention, and neither Sugawara’s, even as their noses touch, and his eyes slide shut.

“Do I always call for you?”

“ _Yes_.”

Lips quirk, and Daichi is not sure what is him and what is someone else. He was amused, and yet he was sad. Colour began to fade, and that glow did not keep him warm, despite the cool of the skin. Holding onto whatever fabric he could, Daichi watched himself from over his shoulder, as he embraced Sugawara. As Sugawara held onto him like it was the last thing he ever wanted to do. No words to break the contract, no final remarks, that are sassy or happy or promises! No promises fall from Sugawara as he fades under Daichi’s touch. His name is not a word on Daichi’s tongue, and he finally pulls back.

A tear rests on that little mark under his left eye, not moving, as if frozen in time. “Will you summon me again?”


End file.
